- Date
- May 29, 1989, 17:00 local (21:00 UTC)
- Place
- Roswell, GA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N7043TRotorway Exec
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 22, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890529015809A
- Case key
- 7827
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilots improper use of the tail rotor controls while in a hover. Adding to this was the pilots total lack of experience operating helicopters.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The student pilot said the 'helicopter started circling to the left' as he was hovering in his backyard. His attempts to recover to a steady hover were unsuccessful and about 2-3 feet AGL the blades came in contact with the ground. The helicopter landed on its left side causing substantial damage. He attributed the occurence to breakage of the tail rotor or belt slippage. However, examination of the wreckage revealed that the tail rotor was functioning and the belt was intact at the time of impact.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7043T
- Reported as
- Rotorway Exec
- Category
- Helicopter, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 3484
- Airframe hours
- 49
- Engine
- Rotorway RW152, 152 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- David Callahan
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 45
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 62 total · 62 in this make and model · 49 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 82 °F, dew point -0 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.